


Happily Ever Always

by strictlybecca



Series: Once and Always [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (2011)
Genre: Coda, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-24
Updated: 2011-11-24
Packaged: 2017-10-26 12:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/282906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strictlybecca/pseuds/strictlybecca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been three weeks since the night at the bridge and Mary Margaret feels hollow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happily Ever Always

**Author's Note:**

> This story is also available as a podfic either at [my tumblr](http://strictlybecca.tumblr.com/post/12460286509/snow-charming-once-upon-a-time-pg-767-its) (streaming) or [my livejournal](http://roo-fic.livejournal.com/8609.html#cutid1) (download link).

It’s been three weeks since the night at the bridge and Mary Margaret feels hollow _. It’s her own fault,_  she tells herself while she lies awake at night, staring at her ceiling for what seems like hours.  _She was stupid to believe for even a second that there was someone out there for her,_  she scolds herself while she makes both her and Emma’s coffee in the morning (a dash of cinnamon there too, it makes the beans sweeter).  
   
The only time she feels even the slightest bit herself is when she’s with her kids, all fifteen of them, brilliant and bright and wonderful and positively ridiculous. Her classroom is the only place where the hollow pit in her chest feels not quite as ragged and terrible. Her kids tell her jokes that don’t make sense and tell her stories of fantastic and unbelievable things and paint her pictures that make her want to cry with how fearlessly they create and show them off. She wishes she were half as brave as her students. She wishes she could take their effervescent joy with her wherever she goes _. It would make the long days easier,_  she thinks.  
   
She goes shopping because it is her turn (Emma went last time and came back with only frozen meals and cereal – Mary Margaret’s going to have to teach her how to cook) and she is staring at the rows and rows and rows of toothpaste and thinks to herself  _and they all lived happily ever after, except for Mary Margaret-_  
   
And then she turns and  _he_  is standing there.  
   
She gasps a little and drops the toothpaste and extra brush she’d grabbed and immediately flushes. “O-oh!” she breathes out, eyes wide – he’s staring at her like…  _well_ , like he can’t believe she’s standing in front of him either. “H-hi, um, David, right?” The name tastes wrong in her mouth and he frowns when she says it.  
   
“Yes,” he says in the tone of someone who wants to say  _no, not at all._  “But I… I never got your name,” he says firmly, quickly, like he’d practiced saying it before. “They never told me who saved me that night.” His eyes have yet to leave her face. “But I recognize you.”  
   
 _You too_ , she wants to blurt out, but that’s not quite right. Instead she stoops slowly to pick up her dropped items and clutches them to her chest. “Mary Margaret,” she murmurs quietly to him. For the first time in her life, her name doesn’t sound quite right either.  
   
“Mary Margaret,” he repeats, a little bit wondering. “It’s very nice to meet you Mary Margaret,” he says finally, smiling slightly, the tiny scar on his chin disappearing in the crinkling of his face as he grins. Mary Margaret has to chant  _married, married, he’s married_  in her head to keep from staring. “You saved my life,” he says, his tone more serious now.  
   
“Oh, well,” Mary Margaret flushes something fierce, dropping her poor mangled toothpaste box and brush into her cart for something to do that’s not stutter helplessly. “Well, it seemed like the honorable thing to do,” she teases gently, the words leaving her mouth without the slightest effort at all. They resonate oddly in the air and David takes a step closer to her, his eyes widening in something like recognition and confusion.  
   
“Could I take you out for coffee?” he blurts out and she freezes in the midst of tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I mean, I- for a thank you, because you saved me,” he clarifies hurriedly, looking as awkward and embarrassed as she feels – which inexplicably makes her feel better. “I… I’ve never had to thank somebody for something as big as that before,” he says, his smile turning sheepish and - dare she say – charming, “At least I don’t think so…” and at that he looks so utterly adorable and bemused that Mary Margaret can’t help but take pity on him.  
   
“Coffee would be the perfect thank you, I think,” she says carefully, her smile soft. “Granny’s of course.” They smile, sharing a moment of understanding – even an amnesiac knows how good Granny’s coffee is.  
   
“Tomorrow,” he says firmly, but his eyes are wide and hopeful, as if expecting a rejection. “Seven-ish?”  
   
“Perfect. You know where to find me,” she said with a smile, gesturing out the wide front windows of the grocery store to diner across the street.  
   
“Always,” he murmurs and Mary Margaret can’t help but hear that for the promise that it is.  



End file.
